Ragnaros
thumb|Ragnaros =General Information= *Level: Boss *Location: Molten Core in Blackrock Mountain *Type: Elemental =Background= Ragnaros the Firelord is the final boss in Molten Core. With the advent of Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj and Naxxramas, defeating Ragnaros is no longer the pinnacle of raid achievement. However, slaying Ragnaros is still considered a very important step in raid progression before engaging into more challenging content. It is the first raid encounter which requires a concerted effort in acquiring massive amounts of a particular statistic (in this case, fire resistance). Moreover, the encounter is the first one to demand the extensive use of consumables, at least in the learning process and in the first few kills. As such, it is a very important stage in the evolution of a raiding guild. Lore The Firelord and his brethren once held sway over the entire world. As a servant of the Old Gods, he fought against the Titans for domination over the planet. The victorious Titans banished him and his brethren to the Elemental Plane - there to remain imprisoned until the end of time. It was then and there that the brothers turned on each other. For five millennia a battle was fought at the core of this world. It was during the Elemental Sundering that the Firelord, Ragnaros, sought to consume Thunderaan, Prince of Air. Thunderaan fell, utterly defeated. The Firelord feasted upon the essence of Thunderaan, but was unable to consume him entirely. In the center of a vast lake of fire in the Elemental Plane stands Sulfuron Keep, the home of Ragnaros the Firelord. Until comparatively recently, he ruled his underground land with a molten iron fist. Three hundred years ago, the ambitious and ruthless Dark Iron Clan initiated a war against their dwarven brethren, the Bronzebeard Clan and Wildhammer Clan. During this War of the Three Hammers, the Dark Iron Dwarf leader named Thaurissan lay siege to the Wildhammers' capital city of Grim Batol, destroying it. Despite this victory, the united Wildhammers and Bronzebeards were ultimately able to push the Dark Iron dwarves back to Blackrock Mountain. Thaurissan, seeking to summon a supernatural minion that would turn the tide of the war back to his favor, called upon the ancient powers sleeping beneath the world. To Thaurissan's surprise, and ultimately his doom, the creature that emerged was more terrible than any nightmare he could have imagined. Now, freed by Thaurissan's call, Ragnaros erupted into being once again. Ragnaros' apocalyptic rebirth into Azeroth shattered the Blackrock Mountain and created a raging volcano at the center of the devastation. The volcano, known as Blackrock Spire, was bordered by what is now known as the Searing Gorge, to the north, and the Burning Steppes, to the south. Though Thaurissan was killed by the forces he had unleashed, his surviving Dark Iron Clan brethren were ultimately enslaved by Ragnaros and his elementals. Many Dark Iron dwarves remain within the lower areas of the mountain, especially Blackrock Depths, toiling away at the behest of Ragnaros and the Firelord's lieutenants. The Bronzebeards and Wildhammers, however, remain free. Witnessing the horrific devastation and the fires spreading across the southern mountains, the Bronzebeards' King Madoran and Wildhammers' King Khardros halted their armies and hastily turned back towards their kingdoms, unwilling to face the awesome wrath of Ragnaros. Cut off from the energies of his fiery realm, Ragnaros is but a shadow of his true self. However, he still has more than enough strength to put an end to any army of would-be heroes. Now, in a greatly weakened state, he lies at the bottom of that volcano on Azeroth, striving to find a way home, as well as to gather his strength once again so he can burn away Azeroth and take it for his own. Meanwhile, in Sulfuron Keep and elsewhere across the Firelands, his elemental princes battle constantly for dominance. He and his dwarven minions took control of the Blackrock mountain's volcanic depths and made war on the orcs in the Upper Blackrock Spire, which served as the seat of power for Nefarian the Black Dragon. Ragnaros has uncovered the secret to creating life from stone and plans to build an army of unstoppable golems to aid him in conquering the whole of Blackrock Mountain. Etymology/inspiration Ragnaros' name is from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnarök Ragnarök](Ragnarok), the end of the world in Norse mythology, but he seems to be based on the leader of the Fire giants, Surt. This battle would be fought between the gods(the Æsir and the Vanir), and the jotuns(the giants): the hrímþursar(frost giants) and the eldjotnar(fire giants, led by Surtr), together with Loki and his children. =Strategies= Ragnaros's Abilities thumb|Ragnaros and Executus is shown with a player in the MT spot shown for scale. Ragnaros has several abilities that he uses in the fight, sometimes accompanied by yelling. They are as follows: Wrath of Ragnaros - Melee Knockback 25s cooldown. "Taste the Flames of Sulfuron!" .When this ability is used characters in melee range are sent flying, much like Garr's guardians when they die. This also reduces threat of the targets it does hit. It is common to be thrown very far and end up either in the lava or in the back row. It is resistible and on a predictable 25 second timer. Melee DPS should back out of melee range and only resume attacks once they are sure the MT or OT has aggro. Most melee deaths occur by melees engaging too fast; after the MT fails a resist and gets knocked back but before the OT engages. Because of Ragnaros's size, melee DPS can not see the MT and OT and must use the "target of target" feature of the UI which can be found in the interface options or a "target of target" mod. Hammer of Ragnaros - Ranged Knockback and Damage 20-30s cooldown. "By fire be purged!" This attack targets a random player and knocks back all players (excluding the target) within ~20 yards. They are knocked back from the impact point which is at the foot of the target. Lava Splash - Localized Damage At various times a lava splash will be triggered which cause large damage to all those hit. It will effect anyone within close proximity to a lava flow. With decent fire resist (150+) it should be partially resisted most of the time. It can be partially resisted with the standard mechanic; every 100FR equals about 25% damage reduction. Elemental Fire - Damage Debuff This is a debuff that Ragnaros puts on whoever has aggro. This does several thousand damage over a period of time, so the main tank must be healed constantly to prevent this from killing him. Magma Blast - Massive Ranged Damage If no one is engaged in melee with Ragnaros he will throw a ranged attack for 4000-6000 damage which will kill most non-tank players in 1 hit and quickly wipe the raid. It's advisable to have a MT stand by at the end of Phase 2 to pick him up immediately upon resurfacing. Melt Weapon - Melee Durability Damage Often Ragnaros damages melee weapons that strike him. This takes 1 point off a weapon's durability per attempt. To counter this, bring spare weapons and ensure the raid has a repair-bot for between every few attempts. Summon Sons of Flame After 3 minutes of combat Ragnaros will summon 8 Sons of Flame and submerge (he will still be visible though; this might be a bug). After 90 seconds or once they are defeated (whichever happens first) Ragnaros will reappear. This process continues after a further 3 minutes until either your group or Ragnaros is dead. Be aware that Ragnaros considers Banished sons as defeated and can resurface prematurely. See below for a detailed Sons of Flame strategy in Phase 2. Combat Strategy *Fire resistance is key to surviving his attacks. *Your MT should have at least 300 (315 is recommended with buffs) fire resistance. *Any melee classes should have at least 200. *Any other class should have at the very least 100 (unbuffed), or they won't be around very long. In each case, more fire resistance is better. *Everyone in the raid should use anywhere from 1-3 fire protection potions during the fight to stay alive. Preferred a few seconds before the sons of flame spawn. *All ranged DPS (Mages, Hunters, Warlocks) should keep in mind that it is impossible for them to pull aggro from the MT. Ragnaros will always attack players who are in melee range first, regardless of their position on his hatelist. ( So don't hold back on DPS ) *HINT: Head your raid (up to 10 players at time) to LBRS and Mind Control one or more Scarshield Spellbinders ( you can find them just at the entrance under the bridge), at this point provide all players with his +81 Fire resistance buff. The buff lasts 60 Minutes, and is on a 30 second cooldown. *HINT 2: See the Plate Resist List, Mail Resist List, Leather Resist List, Cloth Resist List, Misc Resist List for a selection of good fire resist gear. Set Up *All melee and close support need to be on the inner ring engaging Ragnaros while he is up. All the healers and ranged support should be on the secondary ring away from Ragnaros. They must also stay away from the lava flows or they will be affected by the lava splashes. Also all players should spread out so that they are not knocked back and damaged when Ragnaros uses his ranged knock back ability. This means that melee should be around Ragnaros generally on the south, west and north parts of the inner ring, and the ranged is on the south and west portions of the outer ring. There are small patches of wall on the outer rings that, when stood directly against will usually prevent Ragnaros' random fireballs from knocking you back 20 seconds before Ragnaros submerges and spawns Sons of Flame, all melee (With the exception of the main tank, who should stay in melee until Ragnaros submerges to prevent him from magma blasting) should collapse to the southern lip of the outer ring, as to be ready to handle the sons when they spawn. Mages should already be positioned at the collapse point. Mages should conserve their mana so that they have at least 50% left when the first wave of sons spawns. *There are varying strategies on how Ragnaros is to be handled. Some groups go all out damage, getting him down to 30%-40% before the first wave of sons, to be able to kill him before the second. This strategy tends to make for far more casualties, and makes players less likely to survive the sons. The alternative is winning the fight through endurance, rather then all out DPS. All players must make it a priority to keep themselves alive through 2 waves of sons, after which Ragnaros is an easy kill. This puts less stress on the casters and healers. The priority for an endurance fight is not doing damage, it is keeping the entire raid alive, so that the Sons can be accomplished with minimal deaths. There should be no, or at least very few deaths outside of the Sons. By the time the sons spawn, the group should have collapsed to the ring south of Ragnaros. Mana users should be at the very edge of the ring, as to avoid the Son's massive mana burn aura. Tanks should form a wall in front of the casters and group taunt, mages should then frost nova them in place and AoE them down. Ragnaros will spawn the second all the sons are dead or banished. *Lastly, from the time you get Domo to summon Ragnaros you have 2 hours to defeat him, after which he submerges. Majordomo Executus will respawn within 2 to 3 hours. Stage 1 *Have your MTs run in and attack, and have all your melee-ers and ranged DPS-ers assist. You have 3 minutes to get Ragnaros' health down as much as possible. *Ranged DPS should immediatly burn trinkets and cooldowns to maximize damage, especially if they are on a fairly short cooldown (under 5 minutes). So long as anyone is within melee range of Ragnaros, ranged will never pull aggro. *Ragnaros will shoot random explosions that knock people into the air (often into the lava) and do a lot of damage. Players knocked away must return to their designated areas so they can be in range of the healers, as they will be very busy. *Ragnaros also has an AoE knockback ability that he does every 25 seconds. All melee-ers but your MTs should back out before this happens and then re-engage immediately afterwards. Stage 2 *Ragnaros submerges and 8 "Sons of Flame" come out. They do purely fire-based damage and have an AoE mana burn, so you need to keep them away from your mana-users.The sons spawn from around the spiral that Ragnaros is along the west, north and east side, and then rush south to meet the raid. The sons damage is entirely fire based, so with decent fire resistance you will take very little damage from them. *Control them with warriors, mage frost novas, mage blizzard, perhaps bear tanks, hunter freezing traps and kill them all (There may not be enough time to banish, however, some guilds choose to banish once.)The Sons should be tanked and banished while one is being dealt with. It is important to always have at least one that is not banished at a time, as sometimes when all the remaining live sons are banished (or otherwise incapacitated) Ragnaros will re-appear. If this happens you are very likely looking at a wipe. Also you must deal with the Sons quickly as Ragnaros will surface after 1 1/2 minutes whether they are dead or not. To accomplish this everyone MUST be assisting one person that is picking targets. If attacks are spread out they will take to long to kill. With all DPS on one Son you should be aiming to drop one every 10 seconds or less. *Ragnaros will come back after 90 seconds or when all sons are dead, whichever happens first. When you are nearing the 90 second point in the fight it is critical that you send the main tank, secondary tank and their healers back to engage Ragnaros when he re-enters combat. If the tank is not there Ragnaros will start throwing Magma blasts. Once the rest of the group has killed any remaining sons they should re-enter combat with Ragnaros. Stage 3 *Same as phase one. You have 3 more minutes before he submerges again for another minute-and-a-half session with the Sons of Flame. *Generally, you want to kill him before the Sons spawn again or else you will probably die. If you don't get him to at least 40% HP before the end of Stage 1, then you probably won't accomplish this goal. Also see: comprehensive How to kill Ragnaros guide. =Quotes= Ragnaros Summoning talk: * Majordomo Executus: Behold Ragnaros, the Firelord! He who was ancient when this world was young! Bow before him, mortals! Bow before your ending! * Ragnaros: TOO SOON! YOU HAVE AWAKENED ME TOO SOON, EXECUTUS! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS INTRUSION? *Majordomo Executus: These mortal infidels, my lord! They have invaded your sanctum, and seek to steal your secrets! * Ragnaros: FOOL! YOU ALLOWED THESE INSECTS TO RUN RAMPANT THROUGH THE HALLOWED CORE, AND NOW YOU LEAD THEM TO MY VERY LAIR? YOU HAVE FAILED ME, EXECUTUS! JUSTICE SHALL BE MET, INDEED. *Majordomo Executus: My Flame... Please don't take away my Flame!... (Note: This line has been removed in 1.4.0, but the file is still in game) *Ragnaros: NOW FOR YOU, INSECTS. BOLDY YOU SOUGHT THE POWER OF RAGNAROS! NOW YOU SHALL SEE IT FIRSTHAND! * DIE, INSECT! * BY FIRE BE PURGED! * TASTE THE FLAMES OF SULFURON! * COME FORTH, MY SERVANTS! DEFEND YOUR MASTER! =Loot & Reputation= Reputation Gain 200 repuation with the Hydraxian Waterlords at revered. Tier 2 Set Ragnaros drops the pant pieces of each Tier 2 set. *Bloodfang Pants (Rogue) *Dragonstalker's Legguards (Hunter) *Judgement Legplates (Paladin) *Leggings of Transcendence (Priest) *Legplates of Ten Storms (Shaman) *Legplates of Wrath (Warrior) *Nemesis Leggings (Warlock) *Netherwind Pants (Mage) *Stormrage Legguards (Druid) For more details see: Molten Core Loot Category:NPCs Category:Bosses Category:Instance Characters Category:Lore Characters Category:Elementals